Larry Fahn
Biography
Larry Fahn became president of the Sierra Club after proving his worth to the environmental movement as executive director of the As You Sow Foundation. As the chief nonprofit enforcer of California's Proposition 65 "bounty hunter" toxics law, As You Sow earns millions suing companies that expose Californians to one of hundreds of chemicals without offering preemptive warnings. Products given warning labels because of "Prop 65" litigation include fishing rods, typewriter correction fluid, lawn mowers, chain saws, and tuna fish. However minuscule the exposure to chemicals like mercury or lead, California law mandates warning labels. And Larry Fahn is the master of exploiting this situation in order to redirect businesses' earnings into some of the more radical factions of the environmental movement.
Under Fahn's leadership, As You Sow has funneled "Prop 65" lawsuit settlement funds to the Rainforest Action Network and the Ruckus Society (both founded by Earth First! godfather Mike Roselle), the Earth Island Institute, Project Underground, and the California office of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance. These funds came from lawsuits -- mostly settled without involving a jury -- against nail-polish producers, makers of modular buildings (including portable classrooms), grocers, home improvement stores, scuba gear manufacturers, and literally hundreds of other businesses.
Fahn first became involved with the Sierra Club in the early 1970s while a student at UC Davis, where he majored in environmental studies. A lawyer with a nearly 20-year-old solo practice, he became As You Sow's executive director in 1998, a Sierra Club board member in 1999, chairman of the Sierra Club's Marin County (CA) chapter in 2001, Sierra Club vice president in 2002, and president in 2003. Upon his appointment, Fahn announced his intention to "retake the Congress with a pro-environmental majority." Since the Sierra Club is not a tax-exempt charity, Fahn is free to lobby legislators and participate in the sort of electioneering that other environmental leaders are expected to avoid.
Associated Organizations and Foundations
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